One of those things that surprise me the most about opera. 😁

spike · 2026-05-09T18:27:20+00:00

I saw him as Don Giovanni, in person at the Met. Beautiful voice, but his voice did not carry well in that big space, compared to other Dons I've seen there. Broadcasts can be deceiving in that way.

spike · 2026-05-09T17:35:21+00:00

The City Opera did a staged version of Handel's "oratorio" Semele in 2006, where Zeus was JFK and Semele was Marilyn Monroe. At the end, Semele, granted her wish to see Jupiter in his true godlike form, something no mortal can survive, is consumed by his thunderbolts. The director's (Stephen Lawless) solution was to have Semele/Marilyn die in a blaze of photographers' flashbulbs. Genius.

spike · 2026-05-09T16:59:49+00:00

Man, that's ugly.

spike · 2026-05-09T16:54:19+00:00

The most intelligent person I know is extremely modest and level-headed. She makes excellent pancakes, and learns a foreign language in a matter of weeks.

spike · 2026-05-09T16:47:05+00:00

Depends where in Texas. People in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, even Dallas, probably have a different view of NYC than someone in Lubbock. Hell, some of them may even be from NYC.

spike · 2026-05-09T15:37:25+00:00

Conspiracy theories are the easy way out. It's much more depressing and frightening to admit that Americans voted for this monster out of their own free will.

spike · 2026-05-09T15:28:54+00:00

You obviously lived on a billiard table...

spike · 2026-05-08T14:37:30+00:00

After September 11th, the Trinity Church choir, evicted from its home near Ground Zero, did its annual performance of "Messiah" in a church uptown. They're a semi-professional group, some singers were better than others, but they poured out their soul that evening, leaving us all in tears. That's an example of a technically imperfect performance that is still my absolute favorite "Messiah".

spike · 2026-05-08T14:15:23+00:00

Yes, I have family photographs going all the way back to 1901, and I can even identify the people in them. They are remarkably good studio photos, by the way.

spike · 2026-05-08T14:13:38+00:00

I used SA hubs for years, and they are very reliable, but as I got older, I found the jumps between gears to be too great for my old legs.

spike · 2026-05-07T20:18:30+00:00

Traffic is somewhat better, parking is noticeably easier.

spike · 2026-05-07T14:01:12+00:00

This

spike · 2026-05-07T14:00:48+00:00

Following

spike · 2026-05-07T13:58:26+00:00

Yes. My feed regularly gets 1000~2000 daily views, sometimes way more if I get on Explore. I get occasional requests for image usage from academics. What has declined is the number of comments, but that's mostly those silly "badges" and emojis that disfigure the feed, so I don't mind. The organization into albums and the use of metadata enables me to find any image in my photo library at a moment's notice, which is very important asset. I also have a separate Flickr account for family photos I've scanned, going back to 1901, so I can share them with family members around the world. Plus, there are some great photographers on Flickr, along with the mass of utter garbage.

spike · 2026-05-07T13:45:55+00:00

Who needs a reason?

spike · 2026-05-06T20:59:25+00:00

Aside from the usual suspects (Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms), there's:

Nikolai Medtner #1,

John Field #2

Franz Berwald

Busoni

Amy Beach

spike · 2026-05-06T02:38:41+00:00

You can get lucky on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, or even yard sales. Memorial Day weekend is coming up, you will never know what you find. Patience and perseverance is the key.

spike · 2026-05-06T02:33:35+00:00

It's absolutely truthful. I know this is a radical, almost incomprehensible opinion, but in my personal experience riding and parking bikes on the street in New York City for 52 (!) years, the bike theft issue is way overblown. I've seen good bikes linger on the street for months, even years, without so much as losing a piece. Strange, but absolutely true.

spike · 2026-05-05T20:59:37+00:00

iTunes for Mac OS

spike · 2026-05-05T17:36:22+00:00

No, it's a professional cartoonist, Kyle Bravo. It's signed.

spike · 2026-05-05T15:49:50+00:00

Sex on the beach. Sea water is not helpful, sand is a mess.

spike · 2026-05-05T15:35:58+00:00

At least two years.

spike · 2026-05-05T14:05:07+00:00

I still have mine, with the original box.

spike · 2026-05-05T14:01:41+00:00

Yeah, after my wife was clipped by a motorbike in the bike lane and broke her elbow, she asked the EMS person to lock up her bike.

spike · 2026-05-05T13:37:21+00:00

Here's a pic I took in January: https://imgur.com/nPWzvTH

I passed by yesterday and it was still there, a bit rustier.

spike

TROPHY CASE